Delos Pseudo-Athlete

Delos Pseudo-Athlete

Late 2nd - Early 1st century BCE, the Late Republican Period

Unknown

Marble

225 cm tall

House of Diadoumenos, Delos, Cyclades, Greece

National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece

Description:
The Delos Pseudo-Athlete is a male nude figure, and stands at over life size, at 2.25 meters. His hairline is receding, showing little evidence of hair carved into the marble, almost appearing bald. The forehead protrudes significantly over his eyes, which are sunken into the eye sockets. His nose is jaggedly chipped off, leaving a jagged plane of marble in the center of his face. His mouth is taught and small, surrounded by smile lines. His temples stick out slightly, making his head appear wider at the top. His ears are larger than normal, and are angled forward instead of laying flat against his head. His neck is thick and muscular, leading into his chiseled collarbone. His pectoral and abdominal muscles are pronounced; his midsection is thick and muscular. His toned arms hang at his sides; his left arm rests parallel to his body, with his hand lightly touching his thigh. His right arm is bent, with his hand resting on his right hip. He has a draped piece of cloth that rests on his right shoulder, extends down and across his back, and wrapped around his right hand. The excess cloth hangs at his side, reaching to beyond his knees. His legs are thick and toned, with sharply defined calves. He is standing in contraposto. His left leg is bearing the majority of his weight, while his right leg is bent and pointed behind him. He is semi-leaning against a small tree trunk that is less than half his height.

Significance:
This piece, found on the private residence of the House of Diadoumenos on the island of Delos, is an exemplary display of the combination of Greek and Roman portrait styles. The name, “Pseudo-Athlete” was given many years later by art historians because of the figure’s older looking head, and youthful body. This figure was most likely a businessman, making it unlikely that he would have been as toned as he is portrayed in this sculpture. During the Late Republican Period, verism became a popular style used to depict the male form. The name literally means “warts and all.” Instead of the Herculean depictions, these veristic forms are shown with definite signs of age. Crows feet, wrinkles, and smile lines were hailed as markers of age and thus an indication of wisdom, a significant Roman value. The head and face of the Delos Pseudo athlete is very veristic; his hair is receding, his ears awkwardly stick out, and his wrinkles are apparent. Along with his evident verism, the Pseudo Athlete shows other Roman qualities. The draped cloth might be a form of a toga, which only Roman citizens could wear. At the same time, his youthful body is a nod to the Hellenistic Greek style of portraiture. He is in contraposto, and is depicted as a heroic nude. He also has an upward glance and a tilted head, a style that is most likely derived from Polykleitos’ depiction of Alexander the Great, one of the most recognizable and influential figures of the Hellenistic Period. This figure shows the combination of values from the Hellenistic Greek period along with the Verism of the Late Republican Period, albeit in a disjointed manner.

Gisela M. A. Richter. “The Origin of Verism in Roman Portraits.” The Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 45, 1955, pp. 39–46., www.jstor.org/stable/298742.

Stevenson, Tom. “The 'Problem' with Nude Honorific Statuary and Portraits in Late Republican and Augustan Rome.” Greece & Rome, vol. 45, no. 1, 1998, pp. 45–69., www.jstor.org/stable/643207.

Nora Cheung